Description

The fantastic Barbera that is Massa Terra Rosso was a welcome surprise when visiting the estate in April 2026. I knew how amazing their Timorasso is but I didn’t know they made Barbera at all. I love the fragrant and fresh but also slippery and savoury nature of the wine. Massa Terra Rosso has all of the brilliant flavours of Barbera but is light and vibrant.

Massa Terra Rosso Barbera is highly recommended

Drink it over the next couple of years as the mood takes you.

I drove a long way to visit the Massa winery and was rewarded with a magical tasting of both Timorasso and Barbera (who knew?). The area itself is visually stunning, and the work Walter Massa put into saving and then growing the plantings of Timorasso is sensational. From 400 vines in the 1980s to 117 producers and more than 500 hectares. There is not a bad wine here at Vigneti Massa: Timorasso is some of the best white wine in Italy, their Barbera was some of the best I tasted on my visit to Italy.

Piedmont 

Piedmont is one of the most significant wine regions in the world. Its name means the ‘foot of the mountain’. Piedmont is in the North-Western reach of Italy. There are a lot of parallels drawn between the best wines of Piedmont (Barolo and Barbaresco) and the wines of Burgundy. The region neighbours France and Switzerland with its border defined by the Alps to the North and west and Apennines to the South. These natural defences kept the Ligurians safe from Roman invasions. Luckily it didn’t work forever, as we may not have the wines that we cherish today.

Barbera

Nebbiolo is the king but approximately half of the red wine made in Piedmont is made from Barbera. Look for currants and blackberries, liquorice and oak characters. It has taken me a long time to come around to Barbera. But having tasted some stella wines from Barbera in recent times, I’m softening my stance.

Italian Wine

There are 1000s and 1000s of grapes in Italy. There are sub-alpine cool-climate regions in the North, and Sun-baked vineyards in the South. Add to that, volcanoes and many cultures within one Country. You could struggle to find anything uniform about the wines. The best of the best include Tuscan reds from Sangiovese or Cabernet. Nebbiolo from Piedmont, especially Barolo and Barbaresco. The aromatic whites of NE Italy from Garganega, Pinot Grigio, and numerous crazy blends. The volcanic wines of Mt Etna in Sicily. And many more.

The only generalisation I will make is that a lot of Italian wine is undervalued when compared to a similar French style.

Wine

Wine is the result you get from fermented grape juice. There is proof of wine production dating back 8000 years ago. Fashions, innovations and many other factors have influenced the way wine has evolved over the years.

The wine grape is special. It contains everything you need to make grape wine except for the yeast, which lives on the outside of the skins.

Human inputs can influence the final product, including the viticulture (growing) choices. And the winemaker can shape the wine to a point too.

The best wines of the world often refer to terroir. Terroir is a French term that refers to all the climatic, geological and topographical influences on a specific piece of land. And it is true that neighbouring vineyards, grown identically, can taste noticeably different.

Red Wine

Fun fact; most of the colour for wines comes from the skins. There are only a handful of grapes that have red juice. Alicante is the most well known of these grapes.

By macerating the juice on the skins, the wine gains tannins, and flavours. Certain compounds change the chemistry of the wine too.

Red wines tend to have higher alcohol. More tannin and more oak flavours compared to other styles of wine. But the thousands of grapes and terroirs they grow in influence this.

The Wine Depository

I, Phil, have been running The Wine Depository since 2011. The Wine Depository exists to make sure you are drinking the good wines. You can browse and pick what is interesting to you. Or you can make contact with me. I’ll make sure you get what you want, to your palate, to your budget and to your door.